Voting Your Conscience is Not a Wasted Vote

By Gary Shumway, CCP,MA,MPH,MBA

I am defining a wasted vote to be a vote that does not ultimately produce the desired outcome for which the vote was cast. Your candidate/issue may not win but your vote would not necessarily be wasted if it ultimately achieves the purpose for which it is cast. Alternately, if your vote achieves the opposite of your desired outcome or has no eventual affect then it is a wasted vote, or worse.

Politics is a special case, i.e., what you get is not always what you think you are getting or are promised. We must be sure for what we are casting our vote. That is, if you vote for a Republican candidate simply because you have always voted Republican without researching the issues then that is potentially a wasted vote. I say potentially because you might get lucky and the candidate might actually be what YOU believe a Republican should be.

I think it is generally agreed that both major parties have fairly large tents. That is, they try to be as inclusive as possible, at least at election time, in order to gain your vote and to help block third-party candidates from winning. Thus one major party politician may hold widely divergent positions from their same party colleague. This makes it extremely critical to explore the positions of the candidates to insure that your vote is being cast for the outcome you desire, or it will be a wasted vote. The point is, you have to vote for the person and their works/beliefs NOT just their talk or their party's platform.

Defining Third-Party:
In the U.S., a third-party can be defined as any party other than Republican or Democrat. The third-party candidates running for president in 2004 were members of the Independent/Reform Party, Libertarian Party, Constitution Party, and Green Party. The last time I looked in wikipedia.org, there were some 66 third-parties listed.

Third-Party History:
It is interesting to note that the origin (1854) of the Republican Party was as a third-party when the Whig Party was dying. Additionally, Theodore Roosevelt energized the Bull Moose Party to advance a progressive agenda in the early 1900s. More recently, at the presidential level, in 1980, John Anderson ran as an Independent and received 5.7 million votes (7%), in 1992, Ross Perot ran as an Independent and won 19.7 million votes (19%) (trying again in 1996 he received 8 million votes (8%)), in 2000, Ralph Nader ran as a Green Party candidate and received some 3 million votes (3%) but obtained less than 1% in 2004. Of course other third-party candidates have run for president but they all have received less than 1% of the national vote.

At the national level, it is extremely difficult for third-parties to get traction yet they are making headway in local and state races. Following the 2002 elections, more than 300 Libertarians held elected state and local offices. In 2005 at least 222 Greens held office. Twelve Libertarians have previously been elected to state legislatures. In 2002, third-parties had members in the state legislatures of Maine, Vermont, Alaska, and New York.

Avoid Wasting Your Vote
The following are a few of the ways to avoid wasting your vote.
Every Political Party Changes Over Time, So Should Your Vote:
Realize that any political party changes over time. The bulk of the Republicans do not hold the same beliefs or enact legislation that the bulk of the Republicans would in the past. Same with the Democrats. If you blindly vote for ANY political party simply because you have always voted that way in the past, then in my opinion, that there is a good chance that your vote will be wasted, i.e., the ultimate outcome will not be what you intended.

You Must Vote for the Person, Not Just the Party:
There is no doubt that there are some Republicans that vote like Republicans used to and the same with Democrats. But you must be sure that the person for which you are voting, votes the way you believe best represents you. Voting for a person just because they have an R or D or L or C after their name does not tell you their voting record or platform. Avoid wasting your vote, know your candidates!

Do Not Cast a Hope-Vote:
A sure fire way to waste your vote is voting for a party or person because you hope they will change. Voting for a person or party in hopes that they will change in the direction you desire just encourages them to continue down the path they were going. After the elections, do you not hear all sorts of talk of receiving a mandate from the voters, even when they just barely win? How do you think they ever hear that you are unhappy with their representation if you vote for them and then they call it a mandate? Actually voting for them just increases the speed with which they proceed in the direction they were going, not your direction. A hope-vote is a wasted vote.

Vote Record, Not Talk:
If the candidate has a voting record which is not what they are telling you and you vote based on their talk vs. their record, then the more divergent the two are, the more your vote is wasted.

Vote!:
Sometimes a candidate runs unopposed. If you were really opposed to their winning you could cast your vote for a write-in candidate or less optimally, abstain from voting. I believe that voting for a write-in is always preferable to not voting as it sends a stronger message to the 'unopposed' candidate, particularly if you have numerous voters writing in the same person. In my opinion, not voting does not send as strong a message as an actual vote. If you do not vote, then your vote is essentially wasted.

Do Not Vote for the Lesser of Two 'Evils':
How is the candidate going to get the message that you are unhappy with their representation if you continually vote for them and they continue doing what you do not like? Rewarding someone for doing what you do not want them to do is, frankly, nuts. Of course the Republicans and Democrats want you to vote for the lesser of two 'evils' because one of them continues in power. Do not fall into that trap. If you vote for the lesser of two evils then you have wasted your vote because that is not the outcome you desired, regardless of how onerous the other candidate is or how critical the party says it is to stop the opposing candidate (when won't they say that?) Do not ever expect a candidate to believe you are unhappy with their representation if you continue to vote for them. To not waste your vote, you must either vote for a third-party candidate, if one is available and they more approximate your beliefs, or you should vote for a write-in candidate. Again, I believe you should not waste your vote by not voting, unless that is your only other option.

Your Vote

Disclaimer:
First, being honest here, using the above definition of wasted vote, your voting for me would indeed be wasted if you believed, after carefully examining the issues, the candidates, and their trustworthiness that one of the other candidates more approximated what you wanted and/or they passed your issues litmus test(s) better than I. Of course, I would appreciate your vote, but don't expect me to legislate differently than what I state in my campaign materials. Of course it is critical to understand that that works the other way too, that is, if you agree most with my platform but vote someone else then your vote is wasted! They will NOT get your message that you are unhappy with them.

Vote for Me and I'll Vote for You:
If my platform most approximates your beliefs but you vote for a Republican or Democrat just because you think I cannot win, then in my opinion, your vote is wasted. I cannot represent your values and desires unless you vote for me. Not voting when my platform most approximates your beliefs is a wasted vote. Why would you vote for someone else (which I've shown won't change anything), when your beliefs are best represented by my platform? What is more likely to happen by your voting for the lesser of two 'evils' is that the major parties will continue doing what they have been doing. You will continue to lose freedom and pay for their largess. Additionally, you discourage other liberty motivated people of good conscious from running (it does take a lot of time and money!) because they cannot get you to vote for them. How are things ever going to change? Of course, this is what the Republicans and Democrats are banking on.

Protest Vote:
If you are really fed-up with the two major parties, then use your vote for me as a protest vote. Voting for a Democrat simply because you do not want a Republican in, and visa versa does not change the power structure. One of the two major parties remains dominant. You could also do a write-in as a protest vote but I obviously do not believe that to be as strong a protest vote as voting for me and my platform, i.e., you are voting for something and someone that can win and thus represent you.

Send a Message:
You want to send a message to the Republicans and Democrats. This is similar to the protest vote above but it is not a protest as much as a repudiation of their shenanigans and an affirmation of your beliefs via my platform.

Culpable Deniability:
You vote for me due to culpable deniability. That is, heaven forbid that either the Democrat or Republican should win and you voted for me, then you could proudly place the "Don't blame me, I voted for Shumway" sticker on your bumper. Yes, in a sense it is a protest vote that covers your back.

One last thought. If you are registered as, or consider yourself to be, a Republican or a Democrat or a Libertarian or a Constitutionalist or an Independent or any other party ... I am not asking you to change parties, just your vote.